The Ford Ranger Raptor will not come to North America

The director of the Ford Performance line confirmed it to a handful of American journalists this week: the Ford Ranger Raptor will not be offered on our continent.

The Ford Ranger Raptor will ultimately not be marketed in North America. This was announced by Hermann Salenbauch, Director of the Ford Performance line, to a handful of journalists at an event surrounding the announcement of a larger production of the Ford GT.

The reasons are not entirely clear, but it seems that the approval of such a variant for the North American continent would be too expensive, a logical explanation given the turbodiesel engine in the Ranger Raptor marketed elsewhere in the world. . The main interested party also suggested that the Ford Ranger Raptor had been developed for markets where the F-150 Raptor was not available, the smaller Ranger being a more international product. Ford\’s initial goal was to offer a Raptor product anywhere on the globe.

And with the undeniable popularity of the Ford F-150 Raptor at home, the manufacturer Dearborn does not really need another Raptor in North America, especially since the brother of the F-150 off-road could command a large sum to purchase, an obstacle to successful marketing. In other words, the Raptor Ranger might be too close to the big Raptor in terms of price.

Yet for the past two years, Chevrolet has been offering its Colorado ZR2 , an off-road version soon to be available in ZR2 Bison livery , a more serious step for rough roads. And we should not forget Toyota\’s effort with its TRD Pro products, including the Tacoma pickup truck .

Maybe in the end, Ford wants to leave plenty of room for his long-awaited Bronco, which should show up at the Detroit Auto Show in January. And this admission from the Ford Performance line manager does not necessarily mean that the Raptor Ranger will never be offered at home. A builder has the right to change his mind. Remember the case of the Focus RS which was supposedly too expensive for our market; Ford has finally bowed to the demands of consumers, although we already know the fate of cars of the American giant .